Redstick SF

Even the Offspring would have to agree that Saul Tigh (played by Michael Hogan) is the undisputed badass of the new Battlestar Galactica. And, unless Boxey starts backtalking Starbuck and bitch-slapping Athena as I make my way through the original series, the title may be undisputed throughout the franchise.

Where my cheerios at, ho?!

What, you may ask, elevates Saul Tigh to this epic status?

1. He brought sexy back. Err, replace “sexy” with “eye-patches.”

After having his right eye plucked out by Brother Cavell in season 3, Tigh accessorized like a champion. Nothing says “militant insurgent willing to go to any means necessary to liberate the oppressed” like a hastily strewn eye patch.

A fact that the folks over at the Scifi channel message boards have enjoyed profusely…

2. He killed his own wife. He didn’t talk about killing her. He didn’t lament that he wished he could kill her. No. When the time came to put the betraying, wino she-beast down, he did his duty.

3. He had Starbuck pegged from the get-go. After receiving that left hook from Starbuck in the miniseries, I’m pretty sure we all thought Tigh was the one with issues. After all, what little dialogue we got from him had to be spoken between sips of ambrosia/scotch/whiskey/whatever the hell people in BSG drink to get trashed.

His assessment of Starbuck, “my failings are private, yours are professional” still resonates whenever Starbuck reveals herself as a flake/slut/jerk/thinly veiled outcropping of Katie Sackoff’s limited acting ability.

4. Sure he’s a debilitating alcoholic. But he’s so damn loveable when he starts barking out orders to fly the ship to “sommme damn plaaace where they have the cheeseburgers!”

5. He almost single-handedly turned the show into a political allegory for the upside to a successful military coup and martial law. Sure he almost destroyed the fledgling democratic process, but his handling of the press was Rumsfeldian in its sarcastic condescension. And I’m unconvinced that we’re not supposed to think he’s a badass when he dissolves the Quorum of Twelve and dismisses the press like misbehaving school children in the same five minutes…set to a drum heavy, “look how awesome I am” score.

As a final note, I’ll just say that Hogan’s Tigh is much more involved in the show. The original Colonel Tigh (Terry Carter) was a “yes” man to the overbearingly wise and god-like Adama (Lorne Greene). This Tigh doesn’t shy away from dropping the f-bomb from time to time or killing people that piss him off.

But, as to who was the bigger pimp? I’ll leave that judgment in your capable hands.

Check out my fresh calculator watch.

They hopin that they gon catch me ridin dirty.